Under-fire LatAm telcos embrace VoD

Telcos in Latin America are adopting a number of strategies to counter the declining revenue from traditional voice services, the deceleration of data growth and the rising participation of cable companies in the traditional telco space (voice and broadband).

Accordingly, the past few years have seen the telcos try to broaden their scope of action by intensifying activities in the media segment, according to a new report – Operators Embrace Video on Demand to Overcome Regulations Stifling IPTV Market –from Pyramid Research.

The report examines the main regulatory restrictions that operators in Latin America face when launching IPTV services in the region, and focuses on three countries – Argentina, Brazil and Mexico – where different regulatory hurdles have been penalising incumbent operators and delaying the development of the IPTV segment.

“Latin America’s IPTV market is largely underdeveloped because of its low broadband household penetration levels and the existence of regulatory hurdles in some of its largest economies, such as Mexico and Argentina,” says Eulalia Marín-Sorribes, Research Analyst at Pyramid Research.

Pyramid points out that the regulatory restrictions on IPTV have forced telcos to rely on third parties to provide video services. These commercial alliances allow telcos to position themselves in the pay-TV and triple-play markets and compete with pure triple-play providers in a quicker and less expensive manner, without having to roll out their own IPTV services. “In countries where regulatory restrictions on IPTV are still in place, partnering with satellite DTH providers continues to be a good strategy for entering the media/video segment,” she observes.